Chapter 15
Transitioning to Adulthood
Robin Graham
Jamie Hoelscher
Susan Toliver
Carrie Pilant
What does it mean to become an
adult?
• Adulthood is expressed through autonomy,
membership, and change.
• Adults express autonomy by selfsufficiency (e.g., having the financial and
emotional resources to take care of
themselves).
(Ferguson and Ferguson, 2006)
Challenge
• The transition from
high school to
adulthood, with its
increased privileges
and responsibilities, is
especially difficult for
youth with disabilities.
How Do Former Special
Education Students Fare As
Adults?
Obtaining answers to such questions
has been one of the highest priorities
in special education today.
Completing High School
• Students with disabilities
who graduate with a
standard high school
diploma has remained at
about 25% for more than
a decade.
• They range from a low
6.8% in Mississippi to
high 45.4% in New
Jersey.
Employment
• The National Longitudinal Transition Study is an
ongoing effort to assess and monitor changes in
the lives of 8,000 youths with disabilities who left
U.S. secondary special education programs
between 1985 and 1987.
• Data from the NLTS show an unemployment rate
of 46% for all youth with disabilities who have
been out of school for less than 2 years. It drops to
36.5% when the youth have been out of school
from 3 to 5 years.
• Nearly 1 in 5 persons stated that they have given
up looking for work.
Employment
• The employment outlook is much worse for
students with physical, sensory, severe, and
multiple disabilities.
• On average, the youth earned a median
hourly wage of $5.72, less than $12,000 per
year for full-time, year-round employment.
• Only 40% of the young adults with
disabilities who had jobs 3 to 5 years after
school earned more than $6.00 per hour.
Employment
• A nationwide survey
of Americans with
disabilities ages 16 to
64 reported that 2/3
are unemployed, 20%
have full-time jobs,
and 11% are working
part time (Louis Harris
and Associates,
2000).
Postsecondary Education
• Attending college and postsecondary vocational
programs greatly increase the likelihood of
obtaining employment and generally
experiencing success as an adult.
• NLTS found that 27% of young adults who left
high school had enrolled in some type of
postsecondary education program within 3 to 5
years compared with 68% of the general sameage population.
Overall Adjustment and Success
•
The NLTS includes a measure of adult
adjustment that assesses independent
functioning in three domains:
1. Employment (competitively employed in a full-time
job or engaged in job training or postsecondary
education)
2. Residential arrangements (living alone or with a
spouse or a roommate)
3. Social activities (having friends, belonging to social
groups)
When assessed at a period of less than 2
years our of school, only 6.4% of all youth with
disabilities met these three criteria.
Overall Adjustment and Success
•
A follow-up study of graduates of
secondary special education programs in
Iowa evaluated whether or not transition
to adulthood was successful as defined
by four criteria:
1. employed (full or part time) in a competitive
job, working as a homemaker, enrolled as a
full-time student, or enrolled in a job-training
program.
Overall Adjustment and Success
2. buying a home, living independently, or living with a
friend or a spouse.
3. paying at least a portion of one’s living expenses;
and
4. being involved in more than three different leisure
activities (Sitlington et al., 1993).
This study found that only 5.8% of 737 students with
learning disabilities, 5 of 142 students with MR
(3.5%), and just 1 of 59 students with behavioral
disorders could be judged as having made a
successful adult adjustment 1 year after they had
completed high school.
Overall Adjustment and Success
A study for postschool outcomes for high school graduates with MR in
Iowa found that the class of 1993 was slightly better off than the class of
1985
74% of 1993 graduates were employed compared to 66% of the 1985
graduates
28% of 1993 graduates lived independently compared to 21% of the 1985
graduated
39% of 1993 graduates enrolled in some type of postsecondary education
or training program compared to 21% of 1985 graduates
Such findings have focused attention on what has become a
dominant issue in special education today – the transition
from school to adult life in the community
Transition Services and Models
• Congress authorized funding for
secondary education and transitional
services for youth with disabilities when it
amended IDEA in 1983 (P.L. 98-199).
• Will’s Bridges Model of School-to-Work
Transition
• Halpern’s Three-Dimensional Model
Will’s Bridges Model of School-to
Work Transition
• In 1984, Madeline Will, directory of the U.S.
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation
Services, proposed a model of transition
services that included three levels of service,
each conceptualized as a bridge between the
secondary special education curriculum and
adult employment.
• Each level differs in terms of the nature and
extent of the services an individual with
disabilities needs to make a successful transition
from school to work.
Will’s Bridges Model of School-to
Work Transition
• 1st level – students, typically with mild
disabilities, who require no special transition
services
• 2nd level – persons with disabilities who require
the time-limited transitional services offered by
vocational rehabilitation or adult service
agencies that help individuals gain competitive,
independent employment
• 3rd level – consists of ongoing employment
services that are necessary to enable persons
with severe disabilities to enjoy the benefits of
meaningful paid work.
Halpern’s Three-Dimensional
Model
• Halpern (1985) wrote that it is a mistake to
focus on adult employment as the sole
purpose and outcome of transition
services.
• “Living successfully in one’s community
should be the primary target of transitional
services”.
Halpern’s Three-Dimensional
Model
•
Halpern proposed a transitional model
that directed Will’s generic, time-limited,
and ongoing support services toward
helping students with disabilities adjust to
adult life in the community in three
domains:
1. quality of residential environment
2. adequacy of social and interpersonal
network
3. meaningful employment
Definition of Transition Services of
IDEA
Transition services are defined in IDEA as a coordinated set of activities
for a student with a disability that:
a. is designed with an outcome-oriented process, which promotes
movement from school to post-school activities, including
postsecondary education, vocational training, integrated
employment (including supported employment), continuing and
adult education, adult services, independent living, or community
participation;
b. is based upon the individual students’ needs, taking into account
the student’s preferences and interests; and
c. includes instruction, related services, community experiences, the
development of employment and other post-school adult living
objectives, and when appropriate, acquisition of daily living skills
and functional vocational evaluation (H.R. 1350, Sec. 602[34]).
Individualized Transition Plan
IDEA requires that IEPs for older students include information on how the
child’s transition from school to adult will be supported:
Beginning not later than the first IEP to be in effect when the child is 16,
and updated annually thereafter –
a. appropriate measurable postsecondary goals based upon age
appropriate transition assessments related to training, education,
employment, and where appropriate, independent living skills;
b. the transition services (including courses of study) needed to
assist the child in reaching those goals; and
c. beginning not later than 1 year before the child reaches the age
of majority under State law, a statement that the child has been
informed of the child’s rights under this title, if any, that will transfer
to the child on reaching the age of majority under section 615(m).
Individualized Transition Plan
The intent of this provision is to focus the IEP team’s attention on
secondary curriculum and course planning related to postschool success.
This portion of the student’s IEP is called an individualized transition plan
(ITP). The ITP may be written at an earlier age if the IEP team determines
it is appropriate for an individual student.
In contrast to IEP goals and objectives, which address one year at a time,
transition planning requires the IEP team to think and plan several years
ahead (deFur, 2000). A student’s ITP outlines actions, events, and
resources that will affect and support her move from school to adulthood. A
well-written ITP details the types of curricular programming and supports
that will prepare the student for a smooth and successful transition to adult
life.
Transition plans are designed within an outcome-oriented process based
on the student’s and family’s vision of the future.
Individualized Transition Plan
The student’s IEP/ITP team specifies postschool outcomes and goals in
four major – employment, postsecondary education/training, residential,
and recreation/leisure – and then develops an individualized program of
instruction and activities designed to reach those outcomes.
A well-written transition plan ensures that parents are aware of available
adult services and employment options in the community, improves the
chances that adult services will be available with few disruptions to the
graduating student, and provides school and adult service personnel with a
set of procedures and timelines to follow.
After graduation, the ITP can be incorporated into an individual
rehabilitation plan if the young adult is served by vocational rehabilitation
or made part of an individualized habilitation plan if the young adult is
served by a community adult services agency.
Transition Teaming
• Transition planning requires a team – special
education teachers, general education teachers,
vocational education teachers, school
counselors, related-service personnel, personnel
from community and adult services agencies
such as vocational rehabilitation, higher
education, and/or developmental disabilities
adult service agencies – that can help the
student identify and reach her postschool goals.
Transition Teaming
• Transition involves the coordination, delivery,
and transfer of services from the secondary
school program to receiving agencies
(employers, postsecondary education, etc.).
• Although interagency cooperation is critical to
the success of transition, the amendments to
IDEA “made it clear that the initial and ultimately
most significant transition responsibilities lie with
schools” (Moon & Inge, 1993, p.583).
• Cooperation and communication between and
among professionals and families are keys to
effective transition planning.